


The Fairy Mab

by Tree_Mom



Series: Original Content Inspired by Writing Prompts [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26274094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tree_Mom/pseuds/Tree_Mom
Summary: Other princesses have Fairy Godmothers. You have a Fairy Godfather. He doesn’t exactly grant wishes in the usual way, but the Fairy Mob always has your back.Or how Eloise goes home, eventually, with the family she got along the way.
Series: Original Content Inspired by Writing Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908976
Kudos: 1





	The Fairy Mab

Mother never liked telling the story of Ellie’s Christening, She didn’t understand why, other princesses would always flaunt the tale of their Christenings, gloating about their powerful Fairy godmothers. Whenever Ellie would try and tell it her mother would appear, swoop in and stop the conversation, delivering Ellie off to one tutor or another. Mother would not speak of what she called  _ her shame _ , so Ellie asked her father to tell her.

He was less hesitant than Mother, but it had still taken a week of pestering, pouting, and puppy dog eyes for him to finally tell her about her Fairy godmother. Groaning and pulling on his beard and rubbing his temple, he had relented. 

Once upon a time, the queens had gathered - as is traditional - to bear witness to the Christening of one Princess Eloise. It is an important milestone in a young Royal’s life, it is where they are first presented to the human kingdoms, and when their parents strike a deal with the Fae to grant them a guardian.

Your mother had scoured the ancient texts looking for the most powerful Fairy, researching what deals she would have to make to ensure that you not only had the strongest Fairy as a guardian and protector, but also that such a relationship would result in an equivalent deal. With no curses bestowed upon you or the kingdom.

She had been quite proud of herself with her discovery, refusing to talk to others for fear of another princess getting to lay claim to that particular Fae first. So on the day of your Christening, when it came time to ask for the blessings of the Fae, many of the prospective godmothers lined themselves up to present themselves, fluttering themselves giddy with excitement to see which one of them would be chosen.

_ And who did she choose? _

Mab.

She called on the Fairy Mab to be your guardian. 

The room fell silent at her summoning. Two of the fairies fainted at the name, falling to the ground to be caught by flowers that had magically grown. Others dived into the nearest hat and disguised themselves as birds roosting. Only one still stood hovering in front of your mother. She carefully asked her if she was sure she wanted  _ the Mab _ (she mouthed the word refusing to say it herself).

Your mother nodded repeating the name once more. The fairy sighed at the request, “Your funeral,” and blinked out of the room, leaving a trace of sparks in her wake. The room darkened immediately, a small storm cloud rising from the ashes of the sparks. Lightning strikes, and wind whipped through the room, blowing out the candles and shattering the windows in an outward swoop, before returning back and collapsing in on itself.

In the storm cloud’s wake stood three fairies: the one that had disappeared, in a flowing white dress, her eyes emanating darkness; one dressed in a stylish red suit, twirling a knife in their fingers; and an old wrinkled man in a black robe, his white hair haloed in a crown of thorns. The old one few ahead to where your mother stood, holding a crying you swaddled in the softest furs that we had, the other two flanking him. Your mother flinched as he flew closer to her, stepping back until the other two fairies started fluttering behind her to keep her from backing up any further.

He peered into the mess of blankets to see you, you had stopped crying at the sight of him and had extended your arm up to him in curiosity, holding up a single finger. He looked over you, examining as much as he could, before taking your finger in his hand and gave it a steady shake.

He turned over to look your mother in the eyes. “Your request has been heard. This child is under the protection of the Fairy Mab.” He nods, and waits. Your mother nodded, dazed by his words. Pleased with the outcome, the fairy snapped his fingers, and the three Fae blinked away. Light returned to the room, the candles had been relit.

So that was who her Fairy godmother was. The other princess had said that it was easy to call upon their fairies, if you were in the right place. Which is how Ellie found herself standing on a tree stump in the middle of the forest outside the castle during a thunderstorm. Her Fairy had seemed to like storms. She closes her eyes, Tis had said that helped, and whispers into the wind.  _ Mab answer me _ . 

The wind whipped around her, she saw lightning flash through her eyelids, and then utter silence. Before her stood a beautiful woman, her raven hair and silver dress billowing around her in a wind that was not seen. Her eyes were darker than her hair.

_ Are you Mab? _ No. But I am of the Mab.  _ You’re pretty _ . Thank you. What did you need of us?  _ I just wanted to meet you _ . You came out, during a storm to meet us.  _ Yes. You first appeared in a storm cloud, daddy told me. And hadn’t appeared since. So I thought you guys were shy and only liked coming out during storms. _

The Fairy was utterly confused by her words. She must have said the wrong ones then. She tried to think of the right ones to say, but couldn’t string together the proper sentiment of  _ I wanted to meet you because everyone else keeps saying you don’t exist, and Mother seems scared of you and I don’t understand why.  _

The Fairy knelt before her. “Do you want me to take you home, Ellie?” She nodded, and extended her arms to allow the Fairy to carry her. Her dress opened and shifted into a pair of shimmering wings, translucent like a dragonfly’s. She blinked.

In the Other place, her Fairy’s eyes were white, and her hair shone brightly in the darkness. Little specks of light surrounded them, jumping out of the way as they passed. She saw people’s souls in the Other, as well as all the little fairies that weren’t strong enough to exist in the real world on their own. Bearded eels flew around in formation around them, blinking in and out of existence at each of the portals, returning with small orbs of light in their jaws - souls of the dying.

Before she knew it she was back in the castle, in the warmth of the kitchen. A warm coat had been draped over her and there was warm soup on the table to fight against the chill.

“I know this isn’t home. But we’ll get you there. I promise.” She kissed her on the forehead and blinked again.

Things started to change after that. She could see the portals now, though she didn’t dare use them to blink without Sparkles to guide her.

The next time something that Mother would faint as she told her what happened was two years later. A new fountain had been installed in the castle gardens and several of the maids insisted that it had been a wishing fountain. The head chef shook her head at the silly gossip as she handed Ellie one of the pastries she had taken out of the oven. She had been experimenting with a new recipe, and Ellie had declared herself her loyal taste tester, the newest batch was the best one yet.

It was so good she thought that Sparkles would enjoy it. She asked if she could take a few to her Fairy Godmother, and the chef had paled, but had quickly packed her a basket with not just the new pastries but all the other tasty stuff she had made. She kissed the chef on the cheek with a jump and ran out to the garden with the basket.

She had been so excited to share her goodies with Mab that she had tripped on a stone and skinned her knee. She examined her knee, and it was bleeding but not too badly and if Mother saw she would get lectured on how a Princess shouldn’t be running, and she didn’t want to be lectured. She put the basket on the edge of the fountain and climbed up the side. If the fountain was indeed magical then Mab would be able to hear her. 

_ Mab can you come? _ She opens her eyes but no sparkles appear. Disappointed she sits down kicks at the water with her bare feet, wondering if she had done something wrong. Maybe the fountain wasn’t magical. How could she tell the maids?

“The fountain is magical. If that’s what you’re wondering.” A voice calls out from the water.  _ You’re not Mab. _ “No, but I am of the Mab. Heard that there was finally a kingdom that we could exist in.  _ But you’re not her.  _ “There is no one Mab.” 

Bubbles start bubbling up from the fountain and a small fish pops up and looks at her before diving back in. Another splash and a much larger figure appeared beneath the water, leaning up against the edge of the fountain. He was green, and scaly, and his clawed fingers had webbing between them. “You’re either very brave or very desperate to call for the Mab directly.”

_ Mab is my Fairy godmother _ .

The fish person’s entire demeanor shifts, he sits back up in shock. “So you’re little Ellie? Sabbatha told us all how you walked into a storm to talk to us. You have guts.”  _ Sabbatha _ ? “Black beetle eyes like the void, an overwhelming presence of death, dragonfly wings.”  _ Oh you mean Sparkles. _ He makes a noise like a growl at the back of his throat, it takes her a second to realize that he’s laughing. He flicks away an imaginary tear. “No wonder they like you so much.”

He had shifted his form slightly as they started talking. He had whiskers like a catfish that reached his chest, and the flowing hair was slowly replaced by a webbed mohawk. They were halfway through eating the basket of pastries and gossiping about all the wishes that the maids made - “They’re good wishes, but wishes have a cost, and they’re not nearly paying enough for what they’re asking.” - when he notices the scrape on her knee. 

“What happened?” _ I fell _ . “That won’t do at all.” He booped her nose and her skin knit itself together. “Can I take the rest of the pastries to the Mab?” She nods examining her no longer skinned knee. She heard a splash and the basket and Fishface had disappeared. A small conch shell was placed where he had been. She took it and put her ear to it, she could hear the oceans and the rivers and the lakes and the fountains and all the wishes that people would throw into them. 

By the time she got back to the kitchen the chef’s basket had been placed back on the table. It had a note that read “Your bread will never burn” and a few shiny gold coins. The chef seemed happier after receiving it. She pressed the conch to her ear, looking at the chef as she pulled out another set of pastries, and found it silent. All her wishes had been granted.

She never got scraped up again after that, even though she remained as clumsy as always. Instead she felt the cool touch of the fountain’s water whenever she would have gotten hurt.

She grew bolder after that. Calling out to Mab more often, and each time a new Fae creature responded. She soon learned why her Fairy godmother was so unique. Mother had accidentally asked a Fae syndicate to be her daughter’s godparent, and its leaders had - against all odds - decided to accept that proposition. The Mab was made up of all sorts of manners of Fae creatures, not Fairies they insisted. They had almost every single type of Fae under the sun, moon, stars, and seas as members, it was everyone that the humans had originally called monsters.

This was why Mother never talked about Ellie’s “Fairy.” In her eyes it was better for people to think Eloise didn’t have a Fairy than for them to know that she was being protected by  _ monsters _ . Ellie didn’t care, it came in handy many times, she learned many skills that ordinary Fairies couldn’t teach.

Like blinking. She had gotten better after she had asked Sparkles to teach her, and since Sparkles was often busy ferrying the dead and granting last wishes, she had gifted Ellie with a blink dog to guide her on her travels in the Other. She had called him Fluffy, and he was large enough for her father to ride, but people kept insisting that it was a lapdog. 

Or weaving, Eight-eyes had shown her how to weave after she had grown frustrated with the many teaching attempts of her tutors. They had shown her how to weave fabric, and tapestries, and the lifestrings of people. 

Or disappearing. Shadow had taught her that after she had wished she could blend in to the background to hide from the visiting dignitaries’ sons whom she did not like, and insisted on pulling her hair. Shadow had also gotten Firefly involved, and they had given her a haircut - so that the mean boys could no longer pull her hair. And Ellie is pretty sure that they were responsible for the boys’ completely ripped clothing and suddenly long hair and hair mite infestation. By the look of how the fire flickers as they pass by.

Mother had cried when she had seen Eloise’s short hair, and cursed the Mab, as Father held her. When Ellie asked Firefly why later that night, they had merely shrugged. Flicking their tail and combing the fiery hair as they sat in the fireplace. “Some people don’t understand the beauty in destruction I guess. They also don’t realize how much easier it is to destroy something than to create something. Nor how much easier it is for something to grow from things that have been destroyed.” She thanked them for her haircut, she liked it, it meant that she no longer had to spend an hour in the morning with one of Mother’s handmaidens to pleat it into the elaborate hairstyle favored by court these days, and bid them goodnight.

Firefly smiled, before disappearing into the fire and snuffing it out. She found a ring in the ashes of the fire the next morning. It let her change her features slightly, she made herself look like she had long hair again, and was wearing a dress when she was really just wearing the clothing that she had borrowed from one of the stable hands. He had gotten a nice winter’s coat in exchange, the one Sparkles had given her long ago.

And so it went for years. The Mab playing silent protector for Ellie as she got herself into all kinds of trouble. And then making a bigger problem for other people to focus on while they made sure she was alright. Her skills that Mother had despaired about when she was younger came in handy when the neighboring kingdom declared war upon them. Ellie had captured the intrepid king herself with the gifts that she had acquired over the years.

She made her home at their newly acquired castle now. It took a while to convince Mother to let her move on her own. But the promise of no more of the Mab running around the castle was an offer that Mother couldn’t refuse, especially now that she had a new baby whom she insisted would get a proper Fairy guardian. Her loss.

She has no doubt that the Mab had likely been responsible for the king’s descent into madness, the self-destructive nature of it screamed of Firefly’s views on justice. The state of the forest when she had arrived made her believe that the foolish king had thought to cut it down to expand his castle. She sifted through the ashes of what was once a great oak tree and agreed with Firefly. 

She spent most of the time alone, few people from the castle had followed her here. The chef came, and one of the maids that had continued to leave gifts at Fishface’s fountain. She didn’t need much of a staff really, but she made sure that those that did come were well taken care of. The Mab saw to that. The chef always had her pantries full of whatever ingredients she wanted so long as she always left some over for any of the Mab that would visit the castle on occasion to check in. Fishface had taken it upon himself to take care of the maid. She had wished for a Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet once upon a time, Ellie didn’t need the conch shell to check that Prince Charming had switched to something else. The smile in her eyes that she had whenever she looked at Fishface’s new fountain was all the confirmation Ellie needed.

The three of them did well together, Ellie spending most of her time rebuilding the forest, and then when the villagers had discovered exactly who had come to live in the castle, they had started to include her in the day-to-day running of the village itself too. For once she felt in control of her destiny. The kingdom was small, and remained small under her rule - to outsiders that is. The kingdom’s reflection in the Other, however, was ever growing. Many new Fae flocked to it, and the line between the two worlds continued to grow fuzzy, until one day it disappeared for all those that made this place their home.

Life was good. Until Mother came to visit. Her sister had come with her, and grown to be a fine young princess, the kind of princess Ellie could never be. Mother had gone gray with the years, and her sister was beginning adulthood now. Time had passed so quickly for them, why it felt like only yesterday that she had deposed the mad king. Mother did not like to visit her here, Father came on occasion, using the head chef’s cooking as an excuse. The truth was he no longer feared the Mab, having seen the kind of power they could have chosen to wield and seeing that they had instead kept their word and taken care of his daughter, he respected them instead. 

Mother still blamed herself for Eloise getting herself entangled with the Mab, like it wasn’t her that had taken Eloise off the line of inheritance, or hidden her existence from her family, or tried to deny her relationship with the Mab in the first place. The Mab did not like Mother visiting either. But they tolerated her sister. Her sister. Mother had never even told Ellie her name, fearing that knowing her name would make her indebted to the Mab too. That’s not how Names work, you made the names for yourself and you gave them meaning and power. Mother never bothered to learn how things worked. Only whether they were powerful. It would be her downfall one day. Ellie had seen it with Eight-Eyes. 

Mother’s visits were often short. Time dragged on when she was here, the castle reflected that as more weeds grew, and dust accumulated. Subtly trying to get Mother to leave. She didn’t blame the castle, nor how the Other receded away from Mother whenever she came close to it, nor how Fluffy and his pups would growl and blink away whenever Mother approached. She only cared that they were gentle with her sister, it was not her fault that she had a Fairy. Mother should have known better. 

This visit was not making itself out to be a short one. She had come with  _ an entourage _ and what felt like every eligible bachelor in the kingdom. She may not be close to Eloise, but she’d be damned if Eloise’s image reflected poorly on her sister. And so she moved to try and marry her off. Citing wanting grandchildren. A lie. She knew her real desires were to test the bachelors on Eloise first - any man that willingly sought Eloise was automatically deemed ineligible from trying to woo her sister. And that she would no longer have an unwed daughter running wild prancing around with monsters was a happy bonus. 

She did not want this. And so she did what she had always done.

Her request had been unusual. Sparkles had chewed on it for some time, thinking through what it would actually take for it to happen, and whether it would actually work. She tended to pull on the chitinous nubs on her chin when she was thinking, no longer keeping her glamour up when it was just the two of them.“I think this one’s gonna be one that the Boss himself is gonna handle directly. If you know what I mean.” She nods. Anything to stop her parents requests. “Give us a week. It’ll take some convincing.” She winks at Ellie and blinks in a shower of sparks into the nearest portal. 

The week passes quickly. Surprisingly Mother was no longer dropping unscrupulous hints about providing an heir. Or setting her up on unwanted and unsanctioned attempts at dating to try and marry her off to a general or a minister’s son or a nobleman’s second cousin twice removed. It was surprising the amount of work that she could get done when she didn’t need to resort to crawling through the castle vents, or needing to blink with Fluffy. 

She had even gotten to spend time with her sister without Mother’s crushing presence. She’d shown her the wonders of the forest, and the wishing fountain, and even the wonders of blinking. One of Fluffy’s pups had even taken a shining to her, and had taken it upon themself to follow her everywhere. Her sister would smile now at the kitchen table where they shared their meals. It was good, she was a different person when she was free.

The week ends with a visit from the Old Man. He rarely came to visit, he was constantly running the Other and the Forest, and the Mab. But his visits were always momentous. He had visited her three times in her life. First, on the day of her Christening, to accept her as one of his own. Second, on the day the line between the Other and here had disappeared, to declare her Lord of the Inbetween, places where the Fae and humans intermingled free. And third, Today, when she had asked him to come.

He arrived with a storm. He liked to make a show of it, blowing the windows open. The chef and the maid were unperturbed by the brazen show of power, the visiting courtiers cowered in fear. Mother paled. His hair was still white and his clothes were still black. He had traded the robe for a fashionable suit and cape combo, at Ellie’s suggestion. His crown of thorns was blooming blue and purple forget-me-nots. Mother began to scream.

He snapped his fingers and time stopped around him and Ellie. Her mother fell silent, her mouth still held open. Ellie walked over to her sister and presented her to the Mabfather. He looked her over.

“You’re right, that one,” he threw a disdainful finger to her mother, “certainly did quite a number on her. But are you sure about what you’re asking me to do.”

_ Yes. I want an heir. _ Her words had more meaning than that. He knew what she was truly asking for. But the laws that dictated his magic meant that she couldn’t say exactly what she wanted if she was to truly get that. So she was vague. But he understood, and that was what mattered.

He smiles, his eyes crinkling in delight and happiness and tears. He snaps his fingers.

She holds her sister Rene close in her arms, a swaddled newborn babe. Mother was congratulating her on her new child, despairing at what a shame that the child’s father had died recently. If only she knew. She’d return back to her kingdom and would never visit them, she was old. Travel didn’t suit her well. Father stood beside her, a hand resting on her shoulder. They shared a look. He knew. 

She saw Sparkles flitting through different portals struggling to get a better look, and Fishface in the fountain flirting with the maid. Eight-Eyes whispered that Rene’s fate line was strong, and Shadow was trying very hard not to cry when Rene reached out to touch his nose. Firefly teased him about it, until Rene touched their cheek too, and they began to cry. Rene could see them too. The Mabfather had begun to gather storm clouds around him to disappear once more.

_ Wait I have one more request of you. _

“So soon?”

_ It’s an offer you won’t refuse. _

The Mabfather chuckles, a grin with too many teeth grows on his face. “I taught you well.” He crosses his legs to sit in a hovering position before her. “Well then what is it?”

“Will you be her Mabfather, too?”


End file.
